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Super Smash Tournament (Chapter 8 - A Brawl of Precision)

Chapter 8 - A Brawl of Precision

As Captain Olimar made his way back to his quarters and Donkey Kong reunited with Diddy, another group of brawlers located in the training arena found themselves engaged in competition, friendly of course. Pit, Samus Aran, Wolf O'Donnell, and the two members of Star Fox present at the Smash were at odds with each other in the installed shooting range, trying to decide upon the brawler with the greatest accuracy. The three Lylat mercenaries found themselves highly impressed by Samus's precision with both her handgun and her arm cannon, while their views on Pit's skills with his self-guided light arrows were less admirable, particularly in Wolf's case.

"Yeah, good job. Now, how about hitting the mark without moving the darn thing in mid-fire."

Seeing that his rival was as stubborn as ever, Fox stepped in to defend the angel.

"That's enough, Wolf. You act as if you wouldn't use that ability to correct your own mistakes if you had it."

Falco, who was listening in on this argument, couldn't help but step in himself.

"The guy's got a point though, Fox. That is a cheap way of getting your shots to hit."

"Shut up, Falco."

"What? I'm just saying. No offense Pit, but that does make people question if you can really get along without that ability."

Pit, who was taking in every bit of this conversation, tilted his head down, though only enough to make it seem indifferent. Fox, whose well-trained eyes noticed the small change, moved to address Falco's insensitivity before Pit spoke up.

"It's alright, Fox. He's got a point-"

He was stopped mid-sentence by Zelda's voice, which echoed through the speakers.

"Our next match-up is going to be...Pit and Wolf O'Donnell!"

Somewhat thankful for this, Pit formed a smile before continuing.

"I'll tell you what, Wolf. If you really think I have an unfair advantage, I'll cut you a deal. I won't guide the arrows I fire, but...if three of them hit you, you drop your gun and forfeit the match."

His curiosity having been somewhat piqued, Wolf raised the odds.

"Hmm...that is an interesting bet. Okay, but on two more conditions."

"And what are they?"

"...The first is that they have to be decent shots, none of this tip-of-the-heel nonsense. Any decent archer should be able to get me square in the chest."

Seeing some truth in this, Pit nodded in agreement.

"Sounds good. And the second term?"

Wolf pointed at his bow.

"You get ten shots with that thing. Miss eight and YOU have to forfeit."

Fox couldn't stop himself from stepping in.

"Now hold on a second! Those odds are way more in your favor than his."

Wolf turned to him and gave him a scowl.

"I'm risking my chances of winning here. Besides, he can always switch that bow out for swords and give up this challenge of his."

"Not a chance."

The two looked at Pit in surprise.

"You have my word, Wolf. My arrows and my wings are the only things I'll be using during this match."

The two brawlers looked into each other's eyes for a short while before Wolf held out his hand.

"Shake on it."

Pit smiled and took his hand in his own.

"It's official, then."

"Don't get cocky, boy. The pressure's all on you. I don't have any restrictions."

He ended their handshake and headed for the arena. Before Pit began to follow him, Fox placed his hand on his shoulder, causing him to look back at him. The second their eyes locked, Fox pulled his hand away and held it out in front of him.

"Good luck."

Smiling, Pit quickly shook his hand before heading to the arena. Fox watched him leave before looking back at Falco, who picked his gun back up and continued with his target practice.

"The kid's gonna need it."

Moments later, the familiar screams of the crowd echoed through the ears of the two brawlers, who were completely new to the Smash. As with before, the screams died down as they took their positions and the referee started the match.

"3, 2, 1, GO!"

Wolf wasted no time in making things difficult for Pit, pulling out his gun and firing multiple shots at him, which the young angel had expected. Rapidly spinning his bow in front of him until it took the form of a ring, he deflected all the bullets, forcing Wolf to drop towards the floor. Taking this opportunity, Pit pulled on the string of his bow, causing an arrow to form, and released it. His senses sharpened by the coming attack, Wolf quickly leaped into the air, causing the arrow to hit the arena floor and disintegrate. Having regained his composure, he stood up and addressed Pit.

"I gotta admit, I half-expected it to curve up and hit me. I guess you were telling the truth."

Pit straightened himself up and replied with a smile.

"You know, some people are easier to trust than most, Wolf."

"Don't act like it's over, Pit. That was only one arrow. You still have nine more with which to fail."

"It's not gonna happen."

"We'll see."

Knowing that firing his gun was pointless, Wolf began running towards him with his claws protuded. Having expected this as well, Pit pulled on the string of his bow and formed another arrow before making a quick movement with his fingers. Having been tricked into thinking that he released the string, Wolf jumped into the air, only to be hit square in the chest by his arrow. Falling down to the arena on his back, he quickly got up again, prepared to dodge should he fire another arrow. Seeing that Pit had ceased fire for now, he stood up and clapped his hands together, managing a smirk at the same time.

"I'll admit that I didn't even expect you to get one clean hit on me. Job well done. Unfortunately, you agreed to give me three hits. So, don't expect to get two more, let alone get them as easy as you did the first one."

"I never thought that it'd be easy, but I never would've introduced the bet if I didn't know that I could pull it off, either."

Wolf didn't reply, knowing that Pit had a point. He was definitely capable of landing two more hits on him. At this point, his only concern was remaining cautious enough to avoid his attacks. One problem that still remained, however, was finding a way to force him to use up his last eight arrows. After a bit of thought, he put his first idea into action.

Using some previous tactics, he began running towards him once again. Noticing the similarities in his movements, Pit decided to go along and pulled back on the string of his bow, forming another arrow. Seeing that his plan was working, Wolf built up his speed. Waiting until they were barely within arm's distance of each other, Pit once again pretended to release the arrow. However, he quickly realized that Wolf wasn't taking the bait this time and released the arrow, which Wolf narrowly dodged by quickly dropping to the ground.

"That's three."

Not wanting to give him enough time to form another arrow, he pounced on top of him, knocking the bow out of Pit's hand. Attempting to escape, Pit eventually found his hands held down by Wolf's own.

"You seem somewhat surprised. I told you before. You're the only one with restrictions in this match."

His breathing having deepened after his struggle, Pit simply layed on his back and looked up at his opponent as he remembered his own words, which now gave him a horrible taste in his mouth.

My arrows and my wings are the only things I'll be using...

He stopped as he repeated the words in his mind.

"My wings..."

Using all the strength he had, he pulled his arms out of Wolf's fierce grip and used them to push himself backwards across the ground until he was no longer underneath Wolf, at which point he turned over and spread his wings before flapping them and lifting himself into the air. He then turned his gaze towards his bow and, seeing that Wolf's eyes were still on him, swiftly flew over and grabbed it. Timing his every movement, he turned over on his side as he flew by and fired two arrows at Wolf, who, in his still dumbfounded state of mind, only managed to dodge one of them.

Returning to his feet, Wolf looked at his opponent, who was still fluttering in the air, and cursed him in his thoughts.

"This is unbelievable! He shouldn't have been able to land one hit on me by the time he used up half of his arrows, and he's gotten me twice! If I don't step my game up now, I'm out of the tournament."

Letting the thought seep in, he began searching through his mind for a way to force Pit to use all of his arrows, knowing that having him use them one after another would only bring him defeat. His inability to find a solution only frustrated him further. Noticing the puzzled expression on Pit's face, he realized that this frustation was showing externally. Realizing that he had preordained his own defeat when he agreed to Pit's wager, Wolf lost what little self-control he still had.

"This is all his fault! I would've already won if I didn't agree to his stupid bet! He's probably about to shoot another arrow at me while I'm distracted in my thoughts! Well, not if I shoot him first!!"

He drew his gun once again and randomly fired it in Pit's direction. Rapidly spinning his bow as he had before, Pit deflected the fired shots, forcing Wolf to jump out of his own line of fire to avoid these, continuing to shoot at the young angel as he did. All the while he was dodging his deflected shots, he was also moving closer to Pit with intentions of jumping up and grabbing ahold of him when he got close enough, knowing that he wouldn't have enough time to fire another arrow. His plan suddenly fell apart, however, when his gun run out of ammunition, causing him to go into a rage and throw his empty gun at Pit without thinking. Just as his shots were, the gun was deflected by Pit's bow, sending it flying back at Wolf and hitting him in the head, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Man, that smarts. Kid, you're gonna pay for-"

Wolf was stopped mid-sentence when he noticed a small blue flash of light that was approaching him. He didn't even acknowledge the pain as the arrow hit him dead in the chest and pushed him back to the ground. Seeing that he wasn't sitting back up, Pit returned to the ground and walked towards him. Taking a knee next to his opponent, he calmly addressed him.

"Wolf, are you alright?"

Staring directly ahead and refusing to answer, Wolf got up and walked in the direction of the doorway.

"Wolf, what are you doing? The bridge won't reappear until the match is over."

Turning his head and using whatever willpower he had to keep his composure, Wolf responded.

"It is over."

Hesitating for a short moment, he slowly raised his open hand to inform the referee of his forfeit, causing the crowd to burst into cheer. After waiting a short moment to confirm that the forfeit was genuine, the referee announced the results.

"Game! The winner is...Pit!"

After a short internal celebration, Pit exited the arena and called over to Wolf, who wasted no time in returning to the corridors once the bridge reappeared.

"Hey, Wolf."

Seeing that he still refused to acknowledge him, he decided to simply get his point across to him.

"Thanks for keeping your word."

Hearing this, Wolf stopped for a short moment, as did Pit. Thinking about his words, he instantly felt disappointment in his own actions, realizing that his own arrogance was what sparked Pit to offer the wager that eventually led to his defeat. Seeing that Pit's victory was truly his own fault, Wolf discarded his anger against him and responded.

"No problem."

Pit smiled and headed for the mess hall as Wolf returned to his room, unsure of what action he might take once he was alone.